watson



(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

J. WATSON.

PROCESS 0F BALING GOTTON. No. 505,580. PatentedSept. 26, 1893.

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J. WATSON.

PROCESS 0F BALING COTTON. No. 505,580. Patented Sept. 26, 1893.

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No. 505,580. Patented Sept. 25,1593.

- UNITED STATES l PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES wATsON, OE LONDON, ENGLAND.

PROCESS OF BALING COTTON.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 505,580, datedSeptember 26, 1893.

Application led February 9, 1893. Serial No. 461,577. (No specimens.)

To all whom it mwyconcern:

Be it known that I, JAMES WATSON, of Pembridge Villas, Bayswater,London, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inProcesses or Methods of Baling Cotton or other Material, of which thefollowing is a specication.

It is the practice at cotton plantations to form cotton into balescovered with cloth or other covering and bound by hoops or otherbindings, each of which has a buckle or other fastening device at oneside or the other of the bale. By the custom or requirements of thetrade these bales, which are generally called plantation bales, must notbe broken, thatt is to say the cotton must not be taken out of theoriginal wrappers, and as the cotton has been submitted toonlya slightdegree of pressure, it is the practice on the arrival of theseplantation balesat a shipping port or depot to take oft' the hoops andthen squeeze or compress the bales separately by means of a steam andlever or hydraulic press,

which reduces their depth which Varies from say about forty to forty-sixinches more or less to about seven inches. The hoops or bindings arethen again put round the bale, tightened, and each hoop fastened by onebuckle only at one side of the hoop, but usually some at one side of thebale, and some at the other. On removal from the press the bale expandsor bulges out to a depth of about twenty inches. When these bales aresubsequently placed on board ship for transport abroad the cost ofstevedoring is very heavy because of the practical necessity ofsqueezing them into as small a space as possible in the holds, screwjacks, levers and various other appliances being employed for thepurpose. In the course of this work the coverings get torn and thefriction of one set of buckles against another may cause them to slipand strike fire. It is well known that these buckles do slip and ignitethe bales, and in fact have been seen to do so.

Now the object of my invention is to compress the so-called plantationbales into compound bales each ofV which shall contain two or more,preferably four, plantation bales, which when released from pressureshall on account of ltheir shape and binding expand only to a smallextent as compared with the expansion that takes place when plantationbales are compressed and merely bound separately. Further, as in thecompound bales produced according to my invention not only is each balebound separately but also all the bales constituting the compound baleare bound together, the tendency to expand is evenlydistributed and therisk of the buckles slipping and producing sparks is reduced to aminimum, as such bales being of great density do not necessitatescrewing or forcing into the ships hold.

My invention consists in first simultaneously submitting two, three, ormore (preferably four) plantation bales superimposed or piled one aboveanother with their original coverings and hoops undisturbed, to theaction of a press which reduces the depth of each bale to a considerableextent, say from about forty-tive or forty-six inches more or less toabout nine or ten inches more or less; in then while the superimposedbales are still locked in the press cutting off at both sides a portionof the hoops (which owing to the diminution of the depth of the balesbulge out at both sides) the cutting being effected so that the hoopsremain of a length adapted for the bale in the iinally compressed state;in then forming loops on said hoops at each side of every bale andplacing a buckle at each side; in then submitting the superimposed bales`(preferably without allowing them to expand) to the action of a morepowerful press, whereby the depth of each bale is still further reduced,say to about five to seven `inches more lor less; in then fastening eachbale separately by means of the buckles at both sides; and finally iubinding or lashing the superimposed bales together by means of one, twoor more hoops, of which preferably three would be employed, each of themmaking five turns more or less round the bale and being then fastened inany suitable manner, preferably by pushing the end of the hoop under theprevious turn of saine on top or bottom, thus securing the totalstrengthof the hoop for holding the bale. The separate hoops on eachindividual or original bale having been held fast between the bales bythe pressure and tightened at both sides when thus under pressure takealarge portion of the strain and therefore the outside hoops may be muchIOO lighter. The result is the production of a highly compressedcompound bale, composed of two or more plantation bales each of which iscontained in its original wrapper and hoops. On the removal of thecompound bale from the press it will expand or bulge much less than abale pressed separately according to the ordinary practice. A compoundbale formed of four bales would when under pressure measure abouttwenty-seven to twentyeight inches deep, and out of the press it wouldexpand to about thirty-six to thirtyeight inches deep. The bale wouldthus be about sixty by thirty-six by thirty-six-in ch es, equal toforty-five cubic feet, whereas a single bale pressed separatelyaccording to the ordinary practice measures about sixty by thirtysix bytwenty inches, equal to twenty-tive cubic feet, so that the compoundbale effects a saving in measurement of more than fifty per cent.

The invention isnot limited to submitting the superimposed bales to thesuccessive action of only two presses as a third press might inexceptional cases be employed with advantage while on the other handwhere less speed in baling may be considered sufiicient the second pressmay be dispensed with and only one press used, the bales, after thefirst pressing operation, being in such case separately fastened bymeans of buckles placed on both sides of the severed original hoops, andthen all bound or lashed together as above described.

In the accompanying drawingsz-Figure l is a side elevation and Fig. 2 anend elevation showing four plantation bales superimposed one aboveanother before being submitted to the action of the first pressaccording to my invention. Fig. 3 is a side elevation and Fig. 4 an endelevation showing the same bales after they have been submitted to theaction of the irst press, but before the original binding hoops havebeen cut. Fig. 5 is a side elevation and Fig. 6 an end elevation showingthe same bales after portions of the binding hoops have been cut oft ateach side, loops formed on the ends of the remaining lengths of saidhoops and abuckle placed on one of said loops at each side of everybale. Fig. 7 is a side elevation and Fig. 8 an end elevation showing thesame bales after they have been submitted to the action of the secondpress and each bale has been separately fastened by means of the buckleson the binding hoops and all the bales have been bound or lashedtogether by means of hoops. Fig. 9 is a side elevation and Fig. l0 anend elevation of the same bales after they have been removed from thepress and allowed to expand as far as the hoops will permit. Fig. ll isan elevation of the opposite side of the bale to that represented inFig. 9 and shows how the outside hoops are placed on said opposite side.The original binding hoops are for clearness omitted from this figure.

a d are the bales, Z) b the original binding hoops, and c c the originalbuckles or fastenings of said hoops.

dd, Figs. 3 and 4, represent the parts of the hoops b b which bulge outfrom the sides of the bales after the action of the first press.

e e are the points where the hoops are severed, that is to say the partsd d are cut ott.

f f, Figs. 5 and 6, are the loops which are then formed on the ends ofthe remaining parts ot said hoops, and g g the buckles .placed on one ofsaid loops at each side of every bale.

h h are the hoops by which all the four bales are lashed or boundtogether, so as to form a compound bale.

The operation is as followsz-flhe bales a a superimposed as in Figs. land 2 are compressed by the first press to approximately the sizerepresented by Figs. 3 and 4; the bulging or projecting parts d d of theoriginal hoops b b are then severed at e e; the loops f f, Figs. 5 and6, are then formed on the ends of the remaining parts of said hoops andthe buckles g g placed in position; the four superim posed bales arenext in their compressed state transferred to and further compressed bythe second press to approximately the size represented by Figs. 7 and 8and are then separately fastened at both sides by the buckles g g asseen in those figures; next the hoops h h are lashed around the fourbales so as to bind them all together and form a compound bale. Thiscompound bale being then freed from the press it expands toapproximately the size represented in Figs. 9, 10 and l1. 1

Although I have only described the invention as applied to thecompression of so-called plantation bales for which it is particularlyadapted it is obvious that it is also applicable to the compression ofother bales Whether of cotton or other material. Any suitablearrangement of press may be employed for carrying out this inventiom'butI prefer that which is described in a specification forming a separateapplication for patent of even date herewith, Serial No. 461,578.

It is also obvious that instead of edecting the compressing and otheroperations upon two or more bales when piled one above another asdescribed, the bales may be placed against each other in a horizontalline and acted upon by a press which works horizontally.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. The process or method hereinbefore described of baling cotton orother material which has already been partly compressed, covered withcloth or other covering and bound by bindings, and is in the form knownas plantation bales,7 which process consists in simultaneouslysubmitting a plurality of said bales, when in contact with each other,and while in their original bindings, to the action of a press,compressing them therein into a much smaller depth, in then separatelyIOC IIC'

505,580 i y s tightening and fastening theoriginal bindings of saidbales while all the bales are under the pressure of said press, andthereby binding each of said bales separately with its originalbindings, and in then binding all the bales together with additionalbindings while under pressure, whereby a compound bale is producedconsisting of a plurality of compressed plantation bales, each of whichis separately and tightly bound in its tightened original bindings, andall of which are bound together with additional bindings.

2. The process or method hereinbefore described of baling cotton orother material which has already been formed into bales, covered withcloth or other covering, and bound by hoops or other bindings, whichconsists in simultaneously submitting two or more of such bales when incontact with each other, and with their original wrappers and bindings,to the action of a press whereby they are compressed into a much smallerdepth, in then cutting off portions of the binding hoops, which owing tothe decrease in the depth of the bale by the action of said press bulgeout at the sides, and forming fastenings on the remaining portions ofsaid hoops, in then submitting the bales to the action of a morepowerful press, whereby they are still further compressed, in thenrebinding said bales separately and before they are allowed to expand,by parts of their original hoops, and in then binding all the balestogether by hoops or other bindings into one compound cutting oifportions of the binding hoops, Y

which owing to the decrease in the depth of the bale by the action ofsaid press bulge out at the sides, and forming loops on the remainingportions of said hoops and placing buckles thereon; in then submittingthe bales tothe action of a more powerful press, whereby they are stillfurther compressed; in then re-bind ing said bales separately and beforethey are allowed to expand, by parts of their original hoops; and inthen binding all the bales together by hoops or other bindings into onecompound bale, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

JAMES WATSON.y

Witnesses:

JOHN C. MEWBURN, THOMAS L. WHITEHEAD.

